By Investing.com– Toyota Motor Corp (TYO:7203) (NYSE:TM) posted a weaker-than-expected profit for the September quarter on Wednesday, as automobile demand after a run of robust earnings in the past year, with the automaker also trimming its annual sales guidance.
Toyota’s operating income for the three months to September 30 fell 20% to 1.16 trillion yen ($7.81 billion), missing Bloomberg estimates of 1.25 trillion yen.
The softer figure- which represents Toyota’s first profit decline in two years- was driven chiefly by weaker sales in North America, the company’s biggest market. But the softer sales were also in comparison to record-high sales in 2023, as the automaker benefited from a pivot towards its hybrid vehicles over fully electric vehicles.
The world’s biggest automaker still saw strong hybrid sales in the past six months- at 1.8 million units sold, although they fell 35% from the same period last year.
Toyota slightly trimmed its guidance for vehicle sales in the current financial year, forecasting 10.85 million units, compared to a prior forecast of 10.95 million units.
But Toyota left its annual sales revenue guidance unchanged at 46.00 trillion yen, with a net income of 3.57 trillion yen.
The automaker declared an interim dividend of 40 yen.